#SaveBirmingham occupies the council against devastating cuts

#savebirmingham – a grassroots group of activists – has occupied against devastating cuts imposed on the city. This is their statement. To visit their website, go here: http://savebirmingham.wordpress.com/

“We are taking this action because the current system cannot go on. It is undemocratic and unfair. We need alternatives and are calling on the city to join with us and to seek another path.”

“We all know that austerity is not only cruel and wrong, but that it is also not working. So to anyone who thinks we should take a stand we say to you that you will find a great many friends and supporters amongst workers, trade unionists and service users in the community.”

Tonight at 6:30pm the Birmingham Labour group are meeting. They have an absolute majority on the council and they are being asked by their leader Albert Bore and his Cabinet to pass massive cuts to the city’s public services that have been described as “the end of local government”. If the Labour group agrees to pass on the cuts next Monday, then Birmingham’s future will have been sold by them for the benefit of the rich.

The council’s budget plan aims to make £625 million worth of cuts by 2016/17, with cuts of £110.9 million coming in the next year alone (2013/14). This is following on from huge and incredibly painful cuts already delivered – since 2010 there have been cuts of £275 million and a reduction in the number of staff by 27%. The average reduction in Government funding for councils as a whole is £74 per person. However, Birmingham’s reduction has been more than double the national average, at £149 per person. (1)